Universal trimming facility

ABSTRACT

Two cutter assemblies are mounted on a screw drive shaft with right and left-hand threads. Rotation of the shaft will cause adjustment of the distance between the two cutter heads. The shaft assembly and cutter heads themselves are adjustable along the axis of the shaft. The assembly is capable of trimming a carpet to varied widths and of a shifting center line.

United States Patent 91 Killilea Nov. 27, 1973 UNIVERSAL TRIMMINGFACILITY 2,713,903 7/1955 Smith 83/499 [75] Inventor: Daniel EdwardKillilea, Millersvi lle,

P Primary ExaminerDonald R. .Schran [73] Assignee: Armstrong CorkCompany, Attorney chfford Pnce 7 Lancaster, Pa. 7 V 22 Filed: June 28,1971 [57] ABSTRACT Appl. 190.: 157,200

US. Cl 83/433, 83/504, 83/428 Int. Cl. 826d 7/26 Field of Search 83/433,498, 499,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/l9l6 Goetz 143/37 R Two cutterassemblies are mounted on a screw drive shaft with right and left-handthreads. Rotation of the shaft will cause adjustment of the distancebetween the two cutter heads. The shaft assembly and cutter headsthemselves are adjustable along the axis of the shaft. The assembly iscapable of trimming a carpet to varied widths and of a shifting centerline.

3 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure PATENTEflnovzz I915 INVENTOR DANIEL E.KILLILEA ATTORNEY UNIVERSAL TRI'MMING FACILITY BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION ing. The simplest form of trimmer is simply ahead which ismanually movedalong the edge of-the carpet to trim it in a propermanner. The complexity. of-trimmers increases up to that shown in U. S.Pat. No. 3,376,778 wherein a structure is provided'for moving dualtrimming edges to trim both edges of a moving web.

Most trimmers will cut a carpet to a specific width. Some trimmers areused to trim a carpetto the'particw lar edge design of the carpet. Bothtrimmers either cut" a material to auniform width using dual trimmersora single trimmer is used to cutthe edge ofamoving web to conform theedge to a pattern placed upon the moving'edge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In carpet manufacturing, the edge of the goodswill not always matchup with the carpet pattern. Therefore, the carpetcannot be simply-trimmedsquarez In the apparatus herein; twocutters'aremounted to trim the carpet selvage edge to match up with thecarpet pattern edge. Each of the cutters is mounted on a screwarrangement which can-rotate to change the distance between the twocutters. The screw'arrangementitself is mounted to move back and forthalong its longitudinal axis which will be transverse to the carpetmovement. A guider structure is positioned forward of the cutters toindicate where the cutters will cut. An opera tor through manual controlcan shift the .guider to keep it always on register with the patternedge. This will in turn result in the cutter cutting the carpet alongthe pattern edge. The mounting for the cutters will permit theindividual cutters to be adjusted together, laterally,

relative to the moving carpet or independently relative to the movingcarpet to adjust the width between the cutters. All movement of thecutters is made so that the cutters will follow the pattern edge of thecarpet. Due to the inherent elasticity or growth characteristic of thecarpet, the carpet need not always be cut to theexact same width, butcan be stretched to the desired width. The important thing is that thepattern always be at the edge of the trimmed carpet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The single FIGURE of the drawing is aperspective view of the apparatus herein.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED.

EMBODIMENT Carpeting can be made with a printed pattern thereon. Due tothe nature of the printing operation and the inherent characteristics ofthe carpet material, the'carpet with the printed pattern will not havethe pattern at the edge of the carpet. That portion of the carpet whichis between the edge of the pattern and the edge of the carpet materialis referred to as selvage. Before the carpeting is sold, the selvagemust be removed.-

A number of different patterns will exist between the edge of carpetpattern and the tufted and backing edges of the carpet. The carpetpattern may have an hour glass shape relative to the edges of the carpetor the sitnation could be the reverse. In either case, there is anextends along the length of the carpet the distances therebetweenvaries.Since it may be desirable to have the pattern on the carpet such thatone piece of carpetingmay be placed beside another piece of carpet tosecure a pattern match, it is necessary that the edge of the patternexists at the edge of the carpet; Because of the variations between thecarpet width and pattern width and their placement relative to eachother, it is not possible simply to cut the carpet to a uniform width.What is necessary is that the carpet be trimmed to the pattern edge andthen the natural elasticity of the carpet be used to lay the carpet to auniform width with the desired pattern match between adjacent pieces ofcarpetmg.

The mechanism below is capable of trimming a carpet which does not havethe carpet pattern edge in registry with the carpet edge.

Referring to the single FIGURE of the drawing, the carpet 1 is moving inthe direction of the arrow. The carpet selvage edge 4 will not alwaysmatch up with the carpet pattern edge 2. The distance between the carpetselvage edge and the pattern edge will vary along the length of thecarpet. It is necessary that the cutters 6 cut the carpet to conformwith the pattern edge 2 and :not the selvage edge 4: Each of the cutters6 is mounted on a screw arrangement 8 which can be moved back and forthtransverse of the carpet movement. Right and left-hand screws 10 and 12are provided on each end of the screw arrangement 8. The cutters arepositioned on the screw arrangement such that the right and lefthandscrews can move the cutters in conjunction to actually open or narrowdown the width of cut between the two cutters. This will compensate fora variation in the pattern design which results in a variation of thewidth of the pattern.

A shifter bar 14 slides in a groove 16 at the center of the screwarrangement 8. The shifter bar is connected to a screw 18. This screwwill cause the shifter bar 14 to shift back and forth transverse to thecarpet and this in turn moves the screw arrangement 8 with the cuttersback and forth transverse to the carpet movement. An appropriate drivemeans 20 is provided to move the screw arrangement Sand the appropriatedrive means 22 is used to move the screw 18.

As a result of the above structure, the individual cutters 6 are capableof being moved at the same time to openup or to close down the distancebetween the two cutters and thereby to vary the width of the carpet. Inaddition, the screw assembly 8 with the cutters is capable of beingmoved back and forth transverse to the carpet movement so that bothcutters are moved in unison.

A guider assembly 24 is provided forward of each of the cutters toindicate where the cutters would cut the carpet. It is an object of theuser of the apparatus herein to keep the indicators 24 positioned on thepattern edge 2. Placing of the guider structure 24 on the edge of thepattern will mean that the cutters will cut along the edge of thepattern. If the carpet pattern grows or shrinks relative to both guiders24, then the screw arrangement 8 is actuated to move the cutters closetogether or further apart to thus be able to cut a carpet of a differentwidth. If it is observed that the pattern edges are both moving to oneside or the other of the guiders 24, then the total screw arrangement 8and cutters can be shifted laterally back and forth to compensate forthis movement of the pattern edge relative to the guiders.

All of the movement of the cutters is made so that the cutters willfollow the pattern edge of the carpet. Due to the inherent elasticity orgrowth characteristic of the carpet, the carpet need not always be cutto the exact same width, but can be stretched to the desired width. Theimportant thing is that the pattern always be at the edge of the carpetso that there may be pattern matching between adjacent pieces of carpet.The above apparatus is capable of providing the carpet pattern at thecarpet edge of the finished carpet.

What is claimed is:

l. A trimmer apparatus fro trimming a sheet material which has a patternprinted thereon, the edge of the pattern not being in registry with theedge of the sheet material and the edge of the pattern being variable inits position relative to the edge of the sheet material, a shiftermechanism for two cutter heads to shift the cutter heads relative toeach other to vary the distance therebetween, said shifter mechanismbeing a screw thread arrangement with right and left-hand screws on theends thereof, said cutter heads being moved by rotation of the screwarrangement, a means for shifting the shifter mechanism and cutter headsto move that assembly as a unit laterally of the material being trimmed,said means for shifting the screw arrangement being a shifter barpositioned in a groove in the center of the screw arrangement andoperated by a means which causes the shifter bar to move the screwarrangement in a direction transverse to the direction the sheetmaterial may be moving relative to the cutter heads, and an indicatingmeans for indicating the cutting position of the cutters so that theoperator of the apparatus can shift the cutters to correspond to theedge of the pattern placed upon the sheet material.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the shifter bar is driven by a screwand this constitutes a portion of the means which causes the shifter barto move the screw arrangement in either direction transverse to thedirection the sheet material may be moving relative to the cutter heads.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the indicating means for indicatingthe cutting position of the cutters are guiders positioned forward ofeach of the cutters to indicate where the cutters would cut the sheetmaterial to be trimmed.

1. A trimmer apparatus fro trimming a sheet material which has a patternprinted thereon, the edge of the pattern not being in registry with theedge of the sheet material and the edge of the pattern being variable inits position relative to the edge of the sheet material, a shiftermechanism for two cutter heads to shift the cutter heads relative toeach other to vary the distance therebetween, said shifter mechanismbeing a screw thread arrangement with right and left-hand screws on theends thereof, said cutter heads being moved by rotation of the screwarrangement, a means for shifting the shifter mechanism and cutter headsto move that assembly as a unit laterally of the material being trimmed,said means for shifting the screw arrangement being a shifter barpositioned in a groove in the center of the screw arrangement andoperated by a means which causes the shifter bar to move the screwarrangement in a direction transverse to the direction the sheetmaterial may be moving relative to the cutter heads, and an indicatingmeans for indicating the cutting position of the cutters so that theoperator of the apparatus can shift the cutters to correspond to theedge of the pattern placed upon the sheet material.
 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the shifter bar is driven by a screw and thisconstitutes a portion of the means which causes the shifter bar to movethe screw arrangement in either direction transverse to the directionthe sheet material may be moving relative to the cutter heads.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1 wherein the indicating means for indicating thecutting position of the cutters are guiders positioned forward of eachof the cutters to indicate where the cutters would cut the sheetmaterial to be trimmed.